21 February 2016

RECOMMENDATION #92 - TASHI DORJI / MARISA ANDERSON

TASHI DORJI / MARISA ANDERSON - SPLIT
footfalls 2015

"Tashi is one of the most creative, singular, and exciting solo guitarists on the scene today... Marisa exemplifies the honesty, strength, and innovation we admire in players from John Lee Hooker to Jessie Mae Hemphill to Neil Young. Building on established American musical idioms (folk, country, blues) without ever relying on tired cliches... both Tashi and Marisa embody what could be called future guitar music; indeed, the next generation’s benders of wood and wire may have a lot of catching up to do." - FOOTFALLS

two of the best artists in their respective fields which broadly defined certainly overlap - both artists on the rise since 2009 or so, with ANDERSON's recordings stretching further back while DORJI has been more prolific since - his music is decidedly more experimental and expressionist, inspired improvisation, testing the undefined limit of folk guitar, i call it "fringe folk" approximately contemporary to folks like JON COLLIN and OAKHILL RECORDS, seeming to channel FAHEY by way of JANDEK's CORWOOD INDUSTRIES

ANDERSON's music is more traditional but every bit as profound, channeling old hill country blues and american primitive folk guitar in a way that i think sets her apart from both her predecessors and her peers, free of the exhausting weight that many contemporaries seem to burden their music with, either knowingly or not, and always dodging the pitfalls of excess in a particular style / genre where they seem more common and their ill effects more pronounced - ANDERSON's music is effortless and laid back in the best way possible, tending toward an ambient atmosphere although she can absolutely rip it up if so inclined

as far as the music presented here- in a really nice lookin jacket- DORJI's side is upper crust by my measure, maybe the best i've heard from him although i haven't heard all there is - ANDERSON's side is expectedly great, right there alongside her two lps - there's a really nice synergy between the two sides, supplementary vibes lend it a high replay value, i don't see it falling out of rotation anytime soon